Texas Massacre: Islamic View

We often hear about the tolerance of Islam and its concern for the rights of others, but what happened in Texas was so odd. What is your viewpoint in this regard?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear questioner, thanks a lot for your good question. We commend your efforts in pursuit of knowledge.

Surely, Islam is the religion of peace, tolerance, justice and moderation. It has come with goodness for all mankind. Almighty Allah explains a part of the mission of the Prophet Muhammad in His saying,

(He will enjoin on them that which is right and forbid them that which is wrong. He will make lawful for them all good things and prohibit for them only the foul)(At-Tawbah 9:157)

Moreover, people's life is highly valued in Islam. This is confirmed by Allah's saying,

(Nor take life, which Allah has made sacred, except for just cause. And if anyone is slain wrongfully, We have given his heir authority (to demand Qisas or to forgive): but let him not exceed bounds in the matter of taking life; for he is helped (by the law))(Al-Isra’ 17: 33)

In fact, we Muslims condemn what that officer did and are totally against his act. At the same time, we are thoroughly astonished by those who utilize these rare events and ascribe them to Islam to speak evil of it, when Islam has no relation to these acts. There are more than 5 million Muslims in America, who have proved to be active and beneficent to society and none of them has done similar acts. So, why do they say it is Islamic? This is totally unacceptable.

Our religion does not allow killing any innocent person regardless of his or her religion. The life of all human beings is sacred according to the teachings of the Qur’an and the guidance of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and upon all the Prophets and Messengers of Allah). Throughout history, the wars of Muslims against non-Muslims assert these facts.

In response to the question, Sheikh Hussein Halawah, the Secretary General of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and Imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Ireland (ICCI) answers,

Islam does not approve of any harmful act, especially killing people without a legal warrant, irrespective of their color or religion. Almighty Allah says,

(Whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be saveth the life all mankind.)(Al-Ma'idah5: 32)

Definitely, this sad incident has no relation to Islam. A similar accident took place a day after this mishap, in another place in the USA by a non-Muslim. It turned out that the murderer had been extremely down because he had lost his job. We should therefore not relate the Texas incident to Islam, as this would surely mean prejudice towards religions and making connections between them and events they have no concern with.

What is rightly to be said here is that it is an individual incident, and the inquiry will disclose whether Nidal, the officer, was under pressure when he did that or not. We need to know that Islam is no way responsible for this. There are thousands of Muslim soldiers in the American army and none of them has committed any such acts before.

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